Another Radio Dial

 

I really like finding old radios that have presets will call signs on them. This one only has three but it still narrows down the era and the location. Lets dig into it. 

WJZ - I've written about this station many times in different contexts. There have been a few WJZs but we can still triangulate this easily enough.  Today 1300 WJZ-AM broadcasts sports radio from Baltimore MA, as they have since they dropped the WJFK call sign in 2008. Starting in June of 2021 they focused on a sports gambling format as "The Bet" which frankly used to be illegal but whatever, we don't really have laws anymore anyway. The more likely WJZ is New York's 770 WJZ-AM first signing on  in September of 1921 and finally dropping the brand in March of 1953 when ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres and flipped to MOR.  This 31 year window frame the timeline.

WRAK - The original 1170 WRAK-AM signed on in Escanaba, MI in March of 1923 at 50 watts. They operated at 100 watts and had a rocky start and were deleted four months later in June. It was then re-licensed in February of 1925 and deleted a second time in January of 1926. they were re-licensed again in February 1926. In 1928 the station relocated to Erie, PA. Somewhere in there they changed owners from the Economy Light Company  to Clarence.R. Cummins. Despite being a short-lived upper peninsula station, it leaves a legacy in the form of Economy Light & Power Company v. U.S. Supra. which helped defined legal navigability for water ways. C.R. Cummins I was also able to identify as the Assistant manager of the Colonial. He appears in 1911 and 1912 issues of variety magazine as the assistant manager of the Colonial and Columbia theatres in Erie, PA. But in 1912  the same magazine announces his move to the Aero Exhibition co. He appears in the John Elmer Reed book History of Erie Country, PA where he is described as an "amusement engineer." Cummins was born in Erie in 1882 to John M. and Mary E. Cummins. His father died in 1889. He got a degree in chemical engineering in Philadelphia. He returned to Erie and co-founded the Colonial Theatre. He went on to manage the Erie exposition and both local air auto shows.

WRAK was operating under a temporary authorization in 1927 because most stations were in 1927. The FRC has been formed and a slew of stations ht to file for formal licenses. By January 1928.  General Order 32, gathered up 164 stations and informed them all that they do not operate in the public interest. Many of these dissapeared forever. But WRAK lobbied to remain and managed to remain licensed but were reallocated on 1370 kHz at 30 watts and by 1929 had relocated to Williamsport, PA and moved to 1400 in 1941.  They were still operating at 100 watts in 1934, but were up to 250 by 1953. More here.

Perhaps the smallest of these three stations was WKOK-AM. Today it operates on 1070 from Sunbury, PA. It began as WJBU operated by Bucknell University, first licensed in 1925. In 1933 Bucknell sold it to Charles S. Blue to convert to commercial broadcasting. The license was reassigned in April, and the call sign was updated to WKOK in July. In 1936 it began a share-time arrangement with WBAX in Wilkes-Barre but that ended in 1939. In 1940 the FCC approved the NARBA changes. WKOK got an increase in power from 100 to 250 watts, and moved from 1210 kHz to 1240. The move to 1070 only came in 1961 but still operating as a daytimer, powering down from 10,000 watts to 1,000.  More here.

This made for an interesting set of stations. All of them had signed on by 1925, and all call signs are still in use today. Thankfully the highly directional WKOK and it's proximity to the relatively low power WRAK we can narrow the origin of this radio station to a few towns, probably on the west branch of the Susquehanna river: Selinsgrove, Sunbury, Lewisburg, Milton, and Williamsport.

Untangling KTHS-AM and KTHS-FM

1090 KTHS-AM is best known as the station where Lum and Abner started out their career.  You'll notice that logo above states "on the air since 1958" but that has more to do with the modern station on 1480.  Today's KTHS has nothing to do with Lum or Abner or Hot Springs AR. I'll explain.

In 1952 KTHS-AM became a bit of an issue for NARBA (docket 9974). They wanted to move from Hot Springs to Little Rock, and increase power up to 50 kw, unlimited time becoming a clear channel station.  This was a challenge to the jigsaw puzzle of existing clear channel AM frequencies that had mostly been settled at the end of NARBA. But their timing was iffy. James Noe, the owner of 1060 WNOE-AM in New Orleans had also filed to move to 1090, for the purpose of increasing the daytime power of his station to 50 kw (night time to 25 k).  1450 KGRH-AM in Fayetteville, AR had also filed to move to 1090 requesting an increase of power from 250 watts to 50 kw daytime with a directional antenna.

The FCC handled this in a pretty even handled manner. They compiled dozens of pages of public documentation on the fitness of their engineering, finances, public service and community connections in validating their decision. The FCC identified 11 different criteria on which they would measure the relative merits of these conflicting applications. It's lengthy but I think this is worth reading to understand their reasoning. There is a very transparent effort here to demonstrate their even-handedness.  I do wish the FCC still operated this way instead of the Ajit Pai's agenda based rule-making. He's a tool.

1. To determine the technical, financial, and other qualifications of the individual applicant, and of the corporate applicants, their officers, directors, and stockholders to construct and operate respectively Stations WNOE, KTHS, and KGRH and with respect with Radio Broadcasting, Inc. to continue the existing operation of Station KTHS.

2. To determine the areas and populations which may be expected to gain or lose primary or secondary service from the operation of Stations WNOE, KTHS, and KGRH, as proposed, and the character of other service available to such areas and populations.

3. To determine the areas and populations which receive primary service from the present operation of Station KTHS and the character of other broadcast service available to such areas and populations.

4. To determine the type and character of program service proposed to be rendered and whether it would meet the requirements of the populations and areas proposed to be served.

5. To determine whether the operation of Stations WNOE, KTHS, and KGRH, as proposed, and the continuance of the existing operation of KTHS would involve objectionable interference with any other existing broadcast stations, and, if so, the nature and extent thereof, the areas and populations affected thereby, and the availability of other broadcast service to such areas and populations.

6. To determine whether the operation of Stations WNOE, KTHS, and KGRH, as proposed, and the continuance of the existing operation of KTHS would involve objectionable interference each with the other or with the services proposed in any other pending applications for broadcast facilities, and, if so, the nature and extent thereof, the areas and populations affected thereby, and the availability of other broadcast service to such areas and populations.

7. To determine the overlap, if any, that will exist between the service areas of Station KTHS, as proposed, and Station KWKH, Shreveport, Louisiana, the nature and extent thereof, and whether such overlap, if any, is in contravention of Section 3.35 of the Commission's Rules.

8. To determine whether the operation of Stations WNOE, KTHS, and KGRH, as proposed would be in conflict with any international agreement to which the United States is a party.

9. To determine whether the construction of Stations WNOE,KTHS, and KGRH, as proposed, would constitute a hazard to air navigation.

10. To determine whether the installation and operation of Stations WNOE, KTHS, and KGRH, as proposed, and the continuance of the existing operation of Station KTHS would be in compliance with the Commission's Rules and Standards of Good Engineering Practice Concerning Standard Broadcast Stations.

11. To determine on a comparative basis which, if any, of the applications in this consolidated proceeding should be granted.

KTHS-AM first signed on December 20, 1924 first on 600 kHz broadcasting from the Arlington Hotel.  It hopped from 780, 800 and 1040 before landing on 1090 in the 1930s. In 1928 the license was transferred to the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce who claimed they operated it at a loss and transferred it to Radio Broadcasting Inc in trade for 500 shares of stock payable to the chamber and 250 shares of stock payable to the Arlington Hotel. The Chamber further received six daily 50-word spots for a period of 10 years. (The FCC docket has a foot note that lists the current value of the Chambers stock as $32,500.) The book Arkansas Airwaves by Ray Poindexter covers the early years in great detail.

In 1944 80% of the shares of Radio Broadcasting Inc. was sold to Tri-State Broadcasting System Inc in trade for the assets and facilities of KTBS-AM in Shreveport which was complete by September of 1944. At the time all the shares of Tri-State Broadcasting System were owned by the Times Publishing Company which owned KWKH-AM also in Shreveport. (Under the multiple-ownership regulations of the era, this was a good trade.)

So in December of 1944 the new owners of KTHS filed to move the marginally solvent station to West Memphis, AR. This is a surprise move. West Memphis abuts Memphis, TN 180+ miles to the East.  Only 2 years earlier they had abandoned an attempt to move 50 miles North to Little Rock. It shows chutzpah. It was denied. They petitioned to reconsider... that was denied too. Under the terms of NARBA, the FCC was committed to keeping KTHS an Arkansas station. The move to West Memphis would have in effect made them a Tennessee station. No soup for you. So in August 1950, like a consolation prize, KTHS re-filed to move to Little Rock, with an increase from 10,000 to 50,000 watts  (directional at night) was filed on December 8th 1951. The FCC's initial decision was released just weeks later on December 26th approving the move.

The reason for this dance is easy to understand. In 1950 the population of Hot Springs was only 29,000. Memphis was 396,000. Little Rock was just a quarter of that at 102,000. The owners were seeking higher population density and higher ad rates. Simple as that.

Just wait there's more. Under NARBA 1090 kHz is a clear channel frequency on which had priority to our station in Arkansas, WBAL-AM Baltimore, MD and XERB on Rosarito, Baja California in Mexico. KTHS had to use a directional antenna at night to protect the other two stations. They were also required to reduce power if they caused interference. (WBAL was unlimited time and non-directional.) Furthermore they may receive interference from CMBS in Havana, Cuba, CMKR in Santiago de Cuba and XEHR in Puebla Mexico. They also acknowledged that it could cause a little interference to KRLD in Dallas on the first adjacent frequency. KTHS was wedged in tight.

in 1955 they launched a TV station, Channel 11 KTHV and in 1962 they were both sold to different owners. KTHS-AM was flipped to Top-40 and the call letters changed to KAAY. The station 107.1 KTHS used the call sign KSCC prior to 1991. This is a bit of a conflict as even the FCC database claims that KTHS 1480 has been on air since 8/3/1958. Well it's true, but they originally signed on as KTCN-AM as a 1 Kw daytimer under the Ozark Radio & Equipment Co. The brains behind that re-branding was Ernie Howard, former KVLC announcer, KARK-TV reporter and later program Director and then owner and GM of KTCN. Obituary here.

CUBAN CHANNEL RAID

NARBA was replaced in in 1983, with the adoption of the Regional Agreement for the Medium Frequency Broadcasting Service in Region 2, A.K.A. the "Rio Agreement", which covered more or less the entire Western hemisphere. That was over 30 years ago, so NARBA is largely a historical artifact now. Looking back what remains notable is both the nations that participated, and that that didn't. Most notable is the one nation who joined, then later withdrew: Cuba. More here.

Cuba was on board with the original NARBA, let's call it "NARBA Classic" back in the 1930s. The initial NARBA bandplan, was actually known as the "Havana Treaty."  It was signed by the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti in December of 1937. It took effect in March of 1941. Back then the primary goals were: standardizing engineering practises, reducing interference and fairly distributing channel assignments across nations.  In fairness, NARBA Classic favored the US substantially.

In 1949 when NARBA was being re-negotiated, Cuba was in it to win it. The problem of conflicting channel assignments was of primary concern and while Mexico refused to participate the other participating nations were in for a high stakes poker game. Cuba in a savvy maneuver proposed they get wildly more than they wanted putting the US on defense. Broadcasting magazine literally described the Montreal NARBA proceedings as the “threat of ether war.”  This was a tad dramatic, but Cuba did ask for the following:

1. Right to 3 more 1-A channels
2. Power increases on 3 more 1-A channels
3. Establishment of 11 Class 1 stations (7 regional, 4 clear channel)
4. A total of 108 assignment son 79 channels
5. Increased protection on certain Cuban channels 
6. A ban on further licensing of 590, 690, 860, 950, and 1010 in the Southern US (FL, GA, AL, MA, LA)

Under the previous NARBA treaty of 1941, (and the interim agreement of 1946) the 690 frequency was already designated a Canadian 1-A clear channel, so that wasn't a big ask. In trade, they offered to give up the below stations to protect the clear channel status of KNBC in San Francisco and WMAQ in Chicago.

1. 1 Kw station on 670 kHz at Oriente
2. 250 watt station on 680 kHz at Artemisa
3. 1 Kw station on 680 kHz at Santa Clara

The conference voted 6 to 4 against.  Letters to broadcasting magazines described it as "jungle warfare" or as a "cold radio war" and the island of Cuba as "pint-sized."At the time, the whole island of Cuba only had a population of about 5 million. That is about the size of Boston, MA today. Boston has more than 90 AM and FM signals so 108 assignments isn't excessive in today's terms, but it may have seemed that way in 1949. 

It's 1,300 miles from Cuba to Chicago. By today's math, the stations they were offering to protect were in little danger from those local Cuban stations. Though at the time AM reception was common at those distances for clear channel stations. So they would have been regionally impeded in the South East. Interestingly ABC, Westinghouse, KPRC, and Fort Industry Co. all still voted in favor of the treaty.  (Mexico refused to even attend the conference.) The following US stations would have been effected by the Cuban proposal:  KFI, WNBC, WJR, WBBM, WCCO, WLS, WENR, KPRC, WFBC, WSUN, WJBO. An even greater list was described over-dramatically as having "incomplete' protection. In Cuba WIBS would have to move from 740 to 730 kHz, and WKAQ in San Juan would have to reduce it's radiation toward San Juan. 

Cuba didn't get what they asked for, but they got what they needed.  A three-year interim agreement gave Cuba expanded allocations, including the right to share 5  U.S., 3 Canadian, and 2 Mexican clear channel allocations. The interim agreement expired on March 29th, but the new NARBA agreement was signed in November 1950 and was good for another 5 years. NAB was pretty pissed. That same month Billboard Magazine published that the NARBA "conference quietly stole away this week after signing a pact which empowers Cuba virtually to destroy half a dozen clear-channel frequencies in New York and elsewhere."  Broadcasting Magazine just referred to it was "Cuba's Victory."

Remember Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959, so while he was the beneficiary of those proceedings, he was not their architect. NARBA was still biased in favor of the U.S. and Multiple signers were considering walking away before 1980. But Cuba had been in a radio fight with the U.S. for decades. The CIA broadcast anti-Castro propaganda starting in the 1960s, VOA began beaming western propaganda at the island the same year as did Cuban exiles in Florida. In response, Cuba beefed up it's local service, aided Radio Free Dixie, and broadcast Radio Moscow to the U.S. as late as the 1970s.  All of that was outside the treaty.

The Carter administration had improved relations with Havana to the point where the radio spat had largely cooled. But Ronald Reagan was a rabid anti-communist. After his election  the broadcasts resumed.  In 1980, Cuba gave the required one year notification that it was withdrawing from the NARBA treaty. Reagan administration officials announced plans to establish a "Radio Free Cuba". This service was named Radio Marti in 1982 and service began in 1983. Seeing this coming, and with no attachment to treaties signed by the pre-revolutionary government, Cuba abrogated NARBA in 1980. They even gave the standard 1-year notice. 

The Oldest Broadcaster In The Bahamas

1540 ZNS-AM is one of the oldest and strangest radio stations in the West. It is a 50,000 watt station based in the Bahamas, but has the protections of a Class A, clear channel station under NARBA. So it's audible throughout the Bahamas, most of Cuba, and even parts of southeastern Florida. It is the only clear channel station on an island and the only one in the whole Carribean. (Note: Cuba was going to have clear channel stations but they bailed on NARBA in 1959) Despite that Class-A status, ZNS shares a frequency with KXEL in Iowa. This may be a consequence of it operating at only 5,000 watts when NARBA was signed in 1947.

Today ZNS is part of a network is run by the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (BCB).  It consists of 1540 ZNS-1 AM (and its repeater on 104.5) 1240 ZNS-2 AM, which is simulcast on 107.9 in Nassau; and 810 ZNS-3 AM which simulcast on FM 104.5 in Freeport. Their TV network includes only 2 transmitters - serving Nassau and Freeport. ZNS published an excellent network history in 2006 on their 70th anniversary, 200+ pages [LINK]

ZNS stands for Zephyr Nassau Sunshine. Zephyr apparently means balmy breeze. The book Third World Mass Media and Their Search for Modernity by John Lent describes the station (in 1976) as being "...under the supervision of an independent five-man commission, under the consultation with the prime minister. Actually, however, the prime minister does the appointing of personnel to the Bahamas Broadcasting and Television Comission.  The commission itself is responsible to the minister for internal affairs. ZNS personnel think of the station as neither a public service department nor a public corporation, but something in between it's structures." He goes on to point out that ZNS receives no money from the public treasury... which was not exactly true. But more on that in a bit.

The Bahamas then colonial government launched ZNS as part of the Telegraph Department, just in time for the coronation of Britain’s King George V, on May 12, 1937. (Ham radio was active as early as 1932 ex. VIBAX)  ZNS's first studio location was in the Snappy Hat Shop. By about May of that year they installed a 500 watt transmitter and were broadcasting 2 hours a day. The population of the whole nation of islands was only 66,000. Their programming consisted of BBC news, news from local news papers and a bit of recorded music also from the BBC. Until 1950, ZNS was entirely funded by the government as a non-commercial service. More here.

Their TV service  started in Nassau in 1977, with no specific public charter. Their programming was for entertainment, education, and news. So their aired a mix of everything: music, sitcoms, sports, and dramas. Back then the Bahamanian government argued that it had to protect ZNS from competition and denied "numerous" radio applications to do so. In support of their TV outlet they blocked the deployment of cable television services until 1995! Some of this argument was cultural integrity, similar to Canada's content laws. But there seems a bit more to this.

 In 1992 the BCB tightened up the format to a more CBC, NPR or BBC-like news and public affairs format. But to the ire of Bahamanians, ZNS-TV in particular did little to promote Bahamian culture, but a great deal to promote Bahamian politicians. [I'm paraphrasing pundit Larry Smith there.] LINK ...And by 2006 it was costing the 13 million dollars a year to do so.

Consequently for decades the Bahamanian government and citizens have been at a loss what to do with the network. In 2009, the Bahamanian government slashed its funding by 50%. In 2010 Michael Moss of the BCB proposed they add a cable television fee to fund the station, specifically stating that "Creating a new funding system tied to specific legislated sources of revenue will reinforce ZNS’ autonomy as a public service broadcaster..." the news outlet Bahamas B2B called the plan "crazy" though the BBC is funded similarly.

The Nassau Guardian newspaper asked rhetorically in 2011 if the station should exist at all. [LINK] The URCA (Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority) proposed just days later that the government to put more money into the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas if it is to fulfill its planned public service function. The problem gets lip service from politicians, but little more and the stalemate continues to this day. [LINK]

WJNT Vs. Cuba!

This is the tale of how AM radio interference from Cuba helped propel the allocation of FM translators to AM stations in the U.S. Let start with this little tidbit on a document posted on the State Department website. It's referred to in other documents as the Federal Communications Commission's Observation of TV Marti.

Cuba withdrew from NARBA (North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement) decades ago, and the US has separate agreements with Canada and Mexico rendering the document only binding for a few island nations. It's effectively moot. But still we manage to fight with Cuba. In 1982 we began bombarding Cuba with Radio Marti on 1180 and it's VOA programming. This was actually a replacement of a prior propaganda station operating on 535 kHz and 1605 kHz. [SOURCE] Cuba was understandably irritated by this and began jamming 1180 with a loud humming noise. The problem was so foreseeable that the Broadcasting Board of Governors, under the Regan administration, set out in the following paragraph that they were allowed to lease time on other stations should Radio Marti be successfully jammed. More here.

But Radio Marti was not successfully jammed. But at least three other U.S. stations were: 1180 WJNT-AM in Jacksonville, MS; 1180 KGOL-AM in Humble, TX; and strangely 1160 WCRT-AM in Nashville, TN. Today you wont' find an AM station on 1180 AM within 700 miles of Miami. And the nearest one is WLTT-AM, a daytimer near Wilmington, NC. Radio Marti is why. It's not just the Cuban jamming, the two stations in tandem effect all reception near that frequency.  More here.

The stations caught in the cross fire all won themselves consolation prizes. WJNT now operates at night on WJNT-FM1 at 103.3, a 500 watt Nighttime-only FM booster. It's been operating under an STA since1999. WCRT-AM got WCRT-FM1 operating on 98.7 at 75 watts. But KGOL didn't fare so well. The station was not allocated an FM translator. Back in 1982 NAB threw a fit and claimed that Cuba was jamming signals on 570, 670, 1040, 1160, 1380 and had the ability to "cripple more than 200 stations in 34 states." A pretty dubious claims since they couldn't even successfully jam Radio Marti. Even in 1987 the New York times wrote "The noise is annoying, but it does not block the programs." However, the events did broach the engineering topic of FM translators for AM stations a coverage tactic which continues today. Thank you Mr. Regan.

Moving Day March 20th 1941!

In the early days of 1941 the United States had 862 AM stations. Of those 40 were clear channel stations. At the same time Canada had 6 clear channel stations and Mexico had zero. The inequity was obvious, but the channel assignments reflected a technological inequity that dated back to the 1920s. The result was that Mexico refused to regulate their border blasters creating a whole different kind of "clear channel" station which blazed interference across the continent. More here

This was solved by treaty in 1938 with the signing ceremony being held in Havana, Cuba. The hard part would be rearranging the furniture on the US radio dial to make it happen. This was not one project, but many. It was moving day for approximately 776 American AM radio stations. The complexity of the logistics cannot possibly be overstated. In this era of analog electronics it meant new crystals. Further complicating the plan, the FCC decided they should all shift frequencies simultaneously on March 20, 1941.  And they were not alone. 100 Canadian stations, and "numerous" broadcasters in Mexico, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic would need to shift frequencies as well. The total tally of stations effected by the pact was estimated to be around 800.

In their defenseof the change they only stated that it would "...serve to eliminate in considerable measure the long-complained of interference from these sources, and thereby improve broadcast reception in the North American generally. Interference from Mexican and Cuban stations has been particularly objectionable to the rural listeners." The treaty was known as the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA).

Stations that normally signed off at night did swap out hardware overnight and sign on with new frequencies. Other stations with directional antennas had more work to do. But exactly how many stations moved is uncertain. In the FCC 1941 annual report noted that 802 of the 893 US changed frequencies. The original list had only said 862 stations. Most moves went well but some caused interference and required additional moves and shuffles going on for years. The NARBA delegation continued to meet into the early 1950s to iron out the kinks but the worst was over.

The White Areas

A White area has nothing to do with race, though these area's are usually demographically very Caucasian. If you've ever looked at the Arbitron Radio Metro map you would know that the white (and beige) color coded areas are of very low population density. That color key above should look familiar if you're in the radio biz. It's the hue of the rural county, and the unrated market areas.

Shortly after the 1941 NARBA treaty was signed, the FCC turned toward the issue of providing reliable nighttime radio service to the country's "white areas." Oldradio summarized this impending shitstorm as follows:

"Attempts to build a record on the white area issue surfaced as early as an October 1936 FCC hearing, but it was on Feb. 20, 1945, that the FCC officially opened Docket 6741, looking into the future of clear channel broadcasting.Thus began a struggle that was to last 35 years and put a lot of consultants’ and attorneys’ kids through college."

The "white area" problem is that by definition these areas contain a low population density over a large area. What little they had was largely a wash of competing radio splatter and at night it usually got worse. Nonetheless this is what they chose to double down on. Their rationalization was that low population densities can't support the ad revenues necessary to run a radio station.Now today that seems pretty ridiculous. There is nary a county in the US without a radio station in or very near to it. Now many of these may be automated, but that's also the case with major metros.

My point is that they were hawkish on clear channel licenses as a "solution." The circular logic in some ways seems to indicate that this was their goal all along. This was not the 1930s. This was 1945. FM radio was growing, and non-commercial radio was on the rise. It's clear to me that the "problem" was back-engineered from it's solution. You can read the docket here.  On page 5 they defined the problem as they saw it

"More than half the total land area of the United States and perhaps as many as 25 million people principally in Northern New England, the more mountainous regions of the Middle Atlantic States, much of the South, the northernmost part of the Great Lakes Area, withing the Great Plains, and the mountainous areas of the West, and in Alaska are estimated to be outside the range of usable nighttime ground-wave service."

To change licensing practice entirely based on nighttime AM ground-wave reception, totally ignoring night time sky-wave reception, all daytime reception, and the growing use of FM radio... is utter garbage.  While this process began in 1936, this document was printed in 1961. There was ample time to recognize the changing dynamics of broadcasting. In 1948, CBS proposed to the FCC that FM stations should be taken into account in defining white-area service.the FCC responded curtly "Clear channels would always be needed for wide-area service..."  That's just retarded. even in that era the pace of technological change precludes that kind of assumption.

Their "Industry-Advisory engineering committees" suggested at least four national night-time AM services.The FCC went with 13 initially, and added more later. The magnanimous bureaucrats compared it to RFD mail, (Rural Free Delivery.) Dissent at least within the FCC was minimal. Commissioner John Cross criticized it as a "half-solution" for not going far enough. Commissioner Robert Lee dissented more or less on the same issue of scope suggesting that the limits on transmitting power were undue. He was essentially disagreeing with NARBA, not any of the FCC's actions.


So what they approves was a change to the clear channel regulations. Prior to this they permitted only one radio station to operate at night on 24 of the 107 channels available between 535 and 1605 kHz.In 1958 they proposed another 12 and in 1959 another 23 already dithering over power increases and directionality. They still claimed in 1961, that half the land area of the United States remained in a ground-wave white area at night. That may very well be true, but if you've ever been to one of these areas... I'm sure you notices... the cattle don't care.

High Fidelity AM radio

No not HD, IBOC dosen't actually work on AM you already know that.

Starting in 1934 U.S. frequencies above 1500 were allocated only to four experimental stations. the experiment was High Fidelity AM Radio. They broadcast with a signal 20 kHz wide for this improved AQH. The High Fidelity stations were converted to regular broadcasting(and regular call signs) with the NARBA frequency move.

But from December 19, 1933, until then The FRC allowed the three channels, at 1530, 1550, and 1570 kHz, too operate at double the Khz making high-fidelity broadcasting possible without interference from adjacent stations.

These stations were:

on 1530 W1XBS to which became WBRY (later WTBY, then WQQW; went dark in 1989)
on 1590 W9XBY to KITE(wenr dark in 1942)
on 1550 W2XR to WQXR (now 1560 WQEW-AM) which survives today
and also on 1550 W6XAI to KPMC (now 1560 KNZR-AM)

KITE-AM has a great history page here: http://www.qcwa.org/w9xby_station.htm
WBRY-AM history here: http://www.cosmos-monitor.com/hist/kc/w1xbs.html
a WQEW-AM page here: http://www.wackradio.com/wqew/index.html

There was actually a fight over 1530. There were two Kansas City applicants for 1530 kHz. The Unity School of Christianity, owner of WOQ, was seeking the channel as a means of staying on the air if it lost its fight to stay on 1300 kHz. The commission had attempted to deny WOQ a license renewal in 1931. The other Kansas City applicant was First National Television, Inc., operator of a radio engineering school and holder of an experimental television license, W9XAL. First National was partially owned by Arthur B. Church, the principal owner of KMBC.

There were only six applicants for all four licenses.
Unity School of Christianity, Kansas City,
American-Republican, Inc., Waterbury, CT
First National Television, Inc., Kansas City,
John V. L. Hogan, Long Island City, New York,
Pioneer Mercantile Co., Bakersfield, California,
Fred W. Christian, Jr., and Raleigh W. Whiston, Los Angeles,

Two weeks later, the Commission approved all except the Unity and Los Angeles applications. According to Broadcasting, "The fact that more applicants for the newly opened wave lengths did not appear has produced considerable surprise, particularly in the ranks of the Radio Commission."

All Hail NARBA!

Yesterday was quite polical. I promise to tone it down today, but the coming elections have me all fired up. But we all need to say our peice, that's how representative Democracies work. Everyone is continually trying to get their views represented. ... on with the radio geekery.

The acronym N.A.R.B.A. stands for the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement. It was an early radio treaty that came a little late for some. In 1941 the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti had to have a talk. The text is here.

The U.S. had been powering up some "super-power" AM radio stations, like WLW's 500,000-watt Special Temporary Authority. Mexico had begun it's now long-standing tradition of "Border-blasters." A coverage area "arms race" had begun. But it was a war that everyone knew was not winnable. More and more massively powerful stations led only to more and more adjacent channel and distant interference. It led to less radio, not more.

The planning for the meeting actually began in the 1930s. The U.S. entered the meeting wanting to reserve the ability to fight the border blasters not with power or HAAT limits, but the right to counter with it's own super-casters if need be.

I'm going to quote Mark Durenberger so I dont blow this part: "The NARBA language essentially stated that while 1-B stations were given a maximum authorized power of 50 kW, the 1-As would be authorized a minimum power of 50 kW. In this respect, the minimum vocabulary the U.S. endorsed as a signatory to NARBA would differ from the FCC's own 50-kW maximum language. In exchange for this subtlety, the United States gained a major concession from its neighbors. 1-A co-channel stations in adjoining countries could be located no closer than 650 miles from that country's common boundary with the United States. By geographical happenstance this language prohibited, with few exceptions, any co-channel operation on U.S. 1-A channels anywhere in North America. When the delegates returned home, the United States had its continued protection on 25 1-A channels. To answer the demand for more frequencies, the United States agreed to an expansion of the band to 1600 kc/s. "

In accordance with the treaty, clear channel frequencies were set aside across the radio dial, at a rate of about one per 100 kHz, and reserved 1230, 1240, 1340, 1400, 1450, and 1490 mainly for local stations. It also officially expanded the upper limit of the AM broadcast spectrum from 1500 kHz to 1600 kHz. It required that most existing AM stations change frequencies, resulting in a massive shuffling of radio station dial positions. The new frequencies took effect at 3:00 a.m. Eastern on March 29, 1941. (hence the confusing change at WEVD in yesterdays schpiel) So on march 30th 1941 everyone had to change their radio pre-sets.

To implement the NARBA changes, the United States ordered a massive frequency shuffling. Most stations moved up the band, a step of 10 to 30 kc/s. As an interesting note, few stations did any more retuning than absolutely necessasary. As a result many AM transmitting towers are slightly taller than what is optimal for their present operating frequency.

N.A.R.B.A. is no longer in effect. It has been superseded by working agreements made in the early 1980s between the U.S. and Canada and between the U.S. and Mexico, and by an ITU-sponsored agreement covering all of the Western Hemisphere.

In 2000 Radio World did a great six part series that includes much of this historical treaty. It was titled Behind the Clear-Channel Matter.
Go here: http://www.nrcdxas.org/articles/

WEVD: Yiddish and Socialist

In 1932 the Yiddish newspaper, 'The Forward' purchased 1300 WEVD-AM in New York. Their goal was to expand the reach and availability of Yiddish Radio with their famous, long-running show, 'The Forward Hour'. I've previously written about modern Jewish and Yiddish cultural programming here and here.

By 1932, WEVD-AM had already had it's first life as a all-socialist radio station. What? Yeah, no kidding. At that time around the great depression socialism was pretty popular in the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of poor and unemployed Americans decided that rich people needed to share better. Wealthy people decided they should get better marketing for capitalism. A good solid effort was made to conflate socialism with communism; an technique that remained politically popular through the 1980s with president Ronald Regan.  (Nothing is new, just read more history)

So here is this huge socialist movement founding a New York City radio station. It was created in 1927 by the Socialist Party to honor its recently deceased leader, Eugene Victor Debbs. They ran the endeavor for only five years when the the leading Yiddish newspaper, The Forward took over. The Forward Hour, was a variety show that aired every Sunday morning at 11:00. Ironically, while hours of relatively obscure programs like Madame Bertha Hart's Talent Show have survived, only a few random moments of The Forward Hour remain. Among them is the show's remarkable theme song, with its musical allusions to the Socialist anthem "The Internationale" and "La Marseillaise." ... so it stayed red even then.

But later that Year N.A.R.B.A. changed everything. [more on NARBA tomorrow] In New York at the time on 1300 WEVD and WHAP were time sharing, possibly both as daytimers. But NARBA required a lot of stations change frequencies to cause less interference in Canada and Mexico. The two would have to move to 1330. WHAP became WFAB in 1932, which was then sold to WEVD and scuttled 1938. But WEVD and WHAZ shared 1300/1330 with yet another station: WBBR, of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (the jehovas witnesses) up in Troy NY. WEVD operated 86 hours a week, yielding early mornings, 6-8 PM, and most of Sunday to WBBR, and yielding Monday nights. This arrangement continued into the 1970s, when WHAZ was taken out of the share-time and allowed to become a 1kw daytimer on its own WHEW!~

In 1979, WEVD-AM was sold to Salem Media and became religious WNYM. The WEVD calls and programming continued on 97.9 FM, which had been on the air since the 1950s. On the 1330 frequency Salem bought out WPOW in 1984, and in January of 1985 the two stations changed call to WWRV and the share- time ended.

In 1988, Emmis sold the 1050 frequency (now WEPN) and bought 660 from NBC, moving the WFAN calls and format to the former WNBC). The new owner, Spanish Broadcasting System, briefly operated 1050 as Spanish- language WUKQ before trading it to the Jewish Daily Forward. The Forward moved the calls and format of its WEVD-FM to 1050 AM, while SBS took over WEVD's 97.9 FM facility, which became WSKQ-FM.

The WEVD of 1050 AM was a shadow of it's former self. It eeked out a living as just another low-rated brokered ethnic station in the 1990s. In 2001 it then became ESPN sports radio. The rumors had begun months before and has caused a stir. You can read about it here.

In 1999 there was an application for a WEVD-LP in Dover, DE. I dont know what became of that. But nobody picks heritage calls by accident. This is too damn complicated. If you need to understand better go find the book "The Airwaves of New York" If you find one, let me know where. It's out of print. You can read a little more here, or for more on Mr. Debs, try here.